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EU accession treaty with Croatia signed
The Treaty of Accession with Croatia was signed at a special ceremony held in Brussels, in the margins of the European Council.
The signing of the Treaty of Accession paves the way for the ratification procedures that will allow Croatia to become the 28th member of the European Union on 1 July 2013.
Croatia's accession will complete the sixth wave of enlargement in the Union's history.
"This represents an important further step on the path towards a wider Europe of peace, democracy, stability and prosperity. Today's ceremony marks the completion of a long process of negotiations and preparations for accession which was launched by the European Council in Brussels in June 2004," Council president Herman van Rompuy said.
"Considerable efforts have been made by Croatia to bring its laws, regulatory frameworks and administrative practices into line with the acquis of the Union. The considerable task of drafting the Treaty of Accession in each of the 24 Treaty languages was finalised in November 2011."
